Hourly workers at the Park Farms poultry processing plant in Canton voted Saturday to approve a new labor contract with prospective buyer Case Farms.Case Farms, a private company with operations in Winesburg, Ohio, and roots in Akron, is negotiating to purchase the assets of Park Farms.Park Farms, which remains open, had said in December that it was for sale.The union that represents the workers, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 880 in Cleveland, did not release a vote total Monday.The union had 154 members at Park Farms in December.Only those Park Farms workers who filled out a job application with Case could vote on Saturday, according to a letter to union workers released Friday by Local 880.The three-year contract gives workers a full-time job with seniority and vacations kept intact, health care, hiring bonuses and 2 percent raises in the second and third years, according to the letter.Pay starts at $9 an hour plus a 25-cents-an-hour cost-of-living increase for returning workers. The proposed contract eliminates an annual bonus and calls for a two-tier wage system, with new employees starting at $9 an hour but not getting cost of living increases until January 2015.Case Farms has roots in Akron, with the Case name initially associated with Case Egg & Poultry, a company that included a processing plant in Winesburg, a hatchery in Strasburg, Ohio, and a distribution facility in Akron.Thomas R. Shelton bought the family-owned poultry operation in 1986 and expanded it, with operations now in Goldsboro, Morganton and Troutman, N.C., in addition to Winesburg.According to the Case Farms website, the company now processes 1.8 million birds per week, and has more than 2,500 employees.Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.